


In Peru

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Gen, Sentinel Thursday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:14:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22490002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: Jim's time in Peru
Kudos: 8





	In Peru

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Sentinel Thursday prompt 'elsewhere'

In Peru

By Bluewolf

Jim stood for some moments looking down at the seventh and last grave, then he quietly draped Evan Andrews' dog tags over the branch he had placed at the head of the grave.

Five of his men were already dead when he had dragged himself over to the wreckage of the helicopter - he and the other two had been thrown clear as it crashed. Evan and Ben Sarris had survived the immediate crash, but Ben had been unconscious when Jim found him and never regained consciousness; Evan had been conscious when Jim found him, but all Jim had been able to do for the man was give him painkillers; Evan's injuries were well beyond Jim's limited ability to treat; most of the medical supplies had been destroyed. All he had been able to do was keep Evan as comfortable as possible until he died.

And Jim had no idea how he had managed to survive, relatively uninjured, when his men had all been injured severely enough that they had all died.

He looked around. Just what could he do now? Their orders had been to make contact with the locals - but Dan Hardy was the only one who had more than a very few words of Quechua. Even if he found some locals, how could he communicate with them?

But then several natives walked out of the jungle and approached him. One - who had a red pattern painted on his face - was speaking - but Jim couldn't understand a word. He tried gesturing - and it was clear that the natives had no idea what he was trying to say - or, rather, indicate. However, he understood the gesture from their leader that clearly said, 'come'. As they turned to leave, he followed them.

***

They walked, he estimated, roughly two miles before they reached a small cluster of huts.

The one who had tried to communicate led the way to one of the huts, and the other men in the group urged Jim in as well, though none of them entered. Jim looked at the man who had led the way, wondering how he could communicate.

The man poured some liquid from a bowl into two smaller bowls, and handed one to Jim. He raised the other, and drank.

Jim was a little doubtful, but decided that a) the natives could easily have killed him if they had wanted to, b) the liquid in both bowls had come from the same container, and c) he was thirsty. He raised his bowl and drank, emptying the container.

He registered immediately that it wasn't pure water. He felt slightly dizzy, and dropped to his knees even as he saw the native finishing what was in his bowl. His eyes drooped shut for a moment then he blinked them open again.

He knew instantly that he had been drugged - though because the native had drunk the same liquid, the drug had to be relatively harmless. But although the native was squatting beside him, they were no longer inside the hut; they were in the jungle with no sign of the village anywhere; and everything was tinted blue.

A big black cat padded out of the jungle and paused beside the native. It seemed that man and cat exchanged some kind of message; and then the cat jumped at Jim. He knew a moment of terror before realizing it wasn't attacking him; it had actually jumped into his chest.

 _'When you waken, you will understand us.'_ He 'heard' the voice inside his head. Telepathy?

Possibly.

But this was certainly a very, very easy way to learn a new language!

Mentally he began to prepare himself for what was to come... when he awoke.

***

Jim blinked open still-sleepy eyes to find himself lying on a surprisingly soft pallet - so someone had moved him while he was in that drugged 'sleep'? He had still been standing when his 'host' offered him the drink; he could remember losing his balance and ending up on his knees - then his next memory was of waking in a blue jungle. His 'host' had also been standing as he drank... and sitting beside him when he 'woke'.

Had it been some kind of lucid dream?

_'When you waken, you will understand us.'_

Well, he was awake now. But he seemed to be alone... With an effort he pushed himself into a sitting position. Ah - his 'host' was lying on a pallet four or five feet from him - about as far as it was possible for him to be in this small hut - and seemed to be still asleep.

And then a quiet voice murmured, "How do you feel?"

Jim froze. 'When you waken, you will understand us.' He understood what he had been asked - but he knew, he knew that the language was not English.

"Tired," he murmured, and again knew that although he had answered in English, the word that left his tongue was... what was it they had been told the natives of this area spoke? Oh, yes, Quechua. "And a little confused."

"A spirit walk will leave you somewhat tired," the native answered, "especially since this is the first one you have experienced. But if you can remain awake for the rest of today, tomorrow you will be fully recovered. I am Incacha; I am the shaman of the Chopek."

"Jim Ellison." His name did not translate, and Incacha shook his head.

"There is a sound in your name that is strange to our ears," he said. He paused for a moment, studying Jim. "We will call you Enqueri. Why are you here?"

Jim said slowly, "We were not actually meant to be here. Our destination was elsewhere; some distance north of here - but someone shot our helicopter down. We are American army, and we were sent to give assistance to the people in a part of Peru that is having trouble with their neighbors in Ecuador."

"We also need help," Incacha said. "We are having some difficulty with men who are stealing our coca leaves, and killing some of our people who try to stop them. But we need the coca leaves, and those men are stripping the bushes, taking far more than any village needs."

Coca... cocaine! A drug cartel! Disillusioned, heJim thought. There was nothing he could do about carrying out his original orders, but he could at least try to help these people - and at the same time try to stop at least one of the groups taking cocaine into America. "Whatever help I can give you, I will," he said.

***

Although Jim was undoubtedly an adult, Incacha explained to him that before he would be fully accepted by the village, he would have to undergo the boys' initiation rite - several days surviving on his own in the jungle. They were willing to give Jim a shorter period - five days rather than ten, because they understood that he would have undertaken his own tribe's initiation, but he would have to do a token rite for the Chopek.

Jim understood, and four days after his arrival in the village, he set out to spend five days on his own in the jungle, grateful that during those four days Incacha, knowing that he came from a different area, had asked one of the women to show him at least some of the edible plants that grew locally.

He had no problems, though he was glad to know some of the plants he could eat; and when he returned to the village on the evening of the fifth day, he carried with him the carcass of a tapir he had managed to shoot.

Incacha was delighted. One or two of the hunters in the village had been doubtful that the stranger would be anything other than a burden to them; but this proved that Enqueri could hunt.

Once on his own with Incacha, however, Jim hesitantly admitted that he had returned with a problem; he seemed to be able to see and hear more acutely than he had been able to do. He was surprised by Incacha's enthusiastic response, and quickly discovered that with Incacha's help he could use his new ability to serve the tribe. However, Incacha - after another spirit walk (undertaken on his own) said, "I can help you control your senses. But one day your people will come looking for you - and in your own land you will find your true helper."

***

Jim enjoyed the eighteen months he spent with the Chopek, though the unrelenting days spent helping the hunters and patrolling the land, watching for the drug collectors, did weigh heavily on his shoulders (despite Incacha's support) and when a search party did arrive he returned to America with them, knowing that there was little chance of 'his' village being threatened again by those drug cartels.

He had known, when his helicopter was shot down, that it was some distance south of its destination; now he discovered that it was also off course. They had been given faulty information. An incorrect course to follow.

His period of enlistment had expired while he was with the Chopek; he had intended to re-up, but that discovery changed his mind. Disillusioned, he accepted the discharge, returned to Cascade and joined the police.

He had forgotten about having enhanced senses, and didn't remember much about what he had done while he lived with the Chopek - it was almost as if, having reported it to the officer who debriefed him, memory of it left his mind.

At least, though, working with the police satisfied his... yes, his need to serve the tribe.


End file.
